This will be my first impressions of the Light Novel series "HEAVY OBJECT", written by Kamachi Kazuma(A Certain Magical Index), and illustrated by Nagi Ryou. My impressions are based on my thoughts after reading the first volume only. I used the translations on Baka-Tsuki for those interested.
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Synopsis from Baka-Tsuki:

Quote:

In the end, war couldn't be extinguished. But, there was a transformation. Even in the heart of a worthless accomplice in murder who was indifferently continuing his task, there was a transformation. The massive weapon "Object". This was a weapon that changed the whole definition of war. An exchange student named Quenser, who was dispatched to the battlefield, met at the base a girl with a strange aura. The girl, dubbed "Elite", is the pilot of "Object". The near future. This diminutive boy had come to take on the role of standing up against the strongest weapon "Object" for the sake of the girl. This was the motive for their first meeting.

So, we enter a world where wars are completed defined by battles between Objects, as opposed to using armies, tanks, fighter jets, and the like. The main characters are Quenser, a battlefield student, Heivia, a noble working as a soldier, and the Elite girl who pilots the Object attached to their unit. The story follows these three, and their experiences on the battlefield in this world where Objects reign supreme, and most soldiers are either there for decoration, or are mere mechanics for said Objects.

The characters have several traits common to characters in the main cast; Quenser tries to be practical, but his emotions sometimes get int the way of that, he gets tempted by ecchi situations even when he needs to not be, is a bit more observant than others, has a sense of justice/morals that is a bit stronger than others, and is, of course, dense. Heivia is like a (bad) sidekick. Constantly wanting to run away, tries to get the job done without really thinking about whether or not it is done as well as it needs to be, surprisingly resourceful when it comes to surviving, and loyal to his friends no matter the circumstance. The Elite girl, while she IS the heroine, is given an odd amount of attention. For a few brief moments, the story is told from her point of view, yet, most of what we are told, merely presents a set up for her relationships with the other characters, for now and in the future. Her presence is there throughout much of the story, as it largely revolves around Objects of which she is a pilot, yet, she only has but a few scenes despite her significance to the story. We aren't even given her name, if she has one.

The overall general plot feels episodic, in that the main characters are placed in location X, forced to accomplish task Y, and then event Z forces the cycle to start over. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, it does make it feel as though the characters are spinning their wheels and not getting anywhere at the end of the events. While this may be a temporary thing that was put in place for the set up of their place in the world and story, the details of the circumstances suggest that they will be forced to do so repeatedly throughout the series. For a while, at least.

Despite the fact that the overall direction of each chapter may be quite similar, the details of each chapter are different enough, providing us with the elements of a good story that has us eagerly turning the next page looking for more. The characters of the story grow, and show their own ingenuity and resourcefulness during the suspenseful stages for each chapter, which allows them to accomplish their goals, no matter how reluctant they may be to do so.

I would definitely recommend HEAVY OBJECT to others.

[size=x-large]Story: 8/10
Presentation: 8.5/10
Characters: 7.5/10

Overall: 8/10[/size]

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OK, done at last. Well, sort of. I consider this a first draft. While I do feel satisfied with this, if it can be improved, I would like to take a crack at that before sending it to over to get processed for getting put on the main site.

Any suggestions or criticism in regards on how I can improve would be greatly appreciated.

Pretty good review... seem interesting but I don't really like reading LN's/mangas..

As for suggestions. .*

Maybe a few lines or a section of the LN (not too spoiler though) so people can see how the writing is?
It's mostly just my personal taste but I'd suggest having some way to describe what the (in this case LN) content is but also to give it your own. ."pizazz" to keep the reader's attention and make them want to finish the review (due to being funny, your wordplay, etc)*

I wanted to give an example or 2, but considering the similarity in content between each chapter, it's hard to mention anything without giving what will feel like a spoiler for the whole volume. I may have to reread the volume while specifically looking for things to mention that won't be spoilerish if I really want an example. At one point I completely scrapped what I had worked on, and started over, because I felt that what I had done was awful. It was boring, long-winded, and got too much into the details of the early story parts.

I could probably add a bit of spice to the character descriptions easily enough. I originally chose to point the review in a more "professional" direction, because I wasn't sure how much of my personality I should let leak into the review. Thanks for the advice!